THE CAPTAIN OF THE "NAIAD."
Burgo stood staring at the door without stirring for quite two minutes
after the captain of the _Naiad_ had disappeared down the staircase,
his brain in such a maze of stupefaction and bewilderment that more
than once he caught himself saying aloud, "Yes, it is really a fact
that I'm awake."
Hitherto he had only been half dressed, and he now proceeded in an
automatic way to finish his toilet, after which he went on to cram and
strap his portmanteau so that everything might be in readiness when
the promised moment of his deliverance should have arrived.
"As my old nurse used to be so fond of remarking, it never rains but
it pours," he said to himself with a philosophic shrug. "If I could
only have foreseen what was going to happen, I might have spared
myself all my drudgery with the file. And yet it has done me no harm.
It has helped to divert my thoughts and to while away the time.
Besides, had I not been seen from the yacht while at work at the
window I should have been left to effect my escape alone as best I
could. In any case, I shall regain my freedom twenty-four hours before
I expected to do, which, circumstanced as I am, may prove an
invaluable boon. As for this remarkable stranger--why he should be so
eager to do me a service; why he and his fellows, if they are nothing
more than peaceful yachtsmen, should be going about at midnight armed
to the teeth, and why, by some means at present unknown to me, they
should have forced their way into the tower for no apparent purpose
except that their leader might be able to satisfy an apparently idle
curiosity--are conundrums all which I should be no nearer solving at
the end of a year than I am now. Let us hope that my friend with the
cutlass will solve them satisfactorily before we part. He said he
would be back in an hour. Will he keep his promise? Yes; I have faith
in him."
When all was done that there was to do, Burgo sat down and lighted a
cigarette. Now that he had nothing to distract his attention he became
conscious of certain vague diffused sounds which had not obtruded them
selves on him before. What he heard was like a low confused murmur of
several voices, broken now and then by the clear imperative ring of
one voice, as though some one were giving orders to the others. Then
the murmur ceased, and he heard what seemed to him like the faint
plash of muffled oars. Impelled by a vague curiosity he crossed to the
window, but an unbroken pall of darkness was all that met his gaze. If
the steam yacht were still at her moorings opposite the tower, she was
apparently showing no light either fore or aft, which was a piece of
highly culpable negligence on the part of those in command. Burgo went
back to his chair more puzzled than before.
He now gave himself up to a consideration of what steps it behoved him
to take first when he should have regained his liberty, and he had
arrived at no clear decision on the point when he became once more
aware of footsteps on the stairs. Then the captain of the _Naiad_
appeared, followed by a man carrying a mat-basket containing tools of
various kinds. "I have not failed to keep my promise, Mr. Brabazon,"
said the captain with a nod and a smile. Then to the man, "I want you
to force the lock of this door, and be as handy about it as you can."
He stood aside while the man went to work, and nothing more was said.
In something less than five minutes the lock was forced, and the door
flung open, whereupon the man took up his bag and went.
Then the captain strode forward into the room and grasped Burgo by the
hand. "Let me be the first, Mr. Brabazon, to congratulate you on the
recovery of your liberty," he said.
"It is you whom I have to thank for it. Will you not let me know to
whom I am so greatly indebted?"
"To be sure I will. I was just on the point of introducing myself. My
name is Felix Marchment, and, as I think I have already remarked, I
am, among other things, both owner and captain of the _Naiad_. But
even now that I have told you this I suppose you are still at a loss
to comprehend why I should have expressed myself as being so
especially glad to have met you, and still more gratified, as I
undoubtedly am, that it has been in my power to render you some slight
service."
"A very signal service, Mr. Marchment. But, as you observe, I am still
awaiting enlightenment."
"Then you shall not wait a minute longer. But what I have to say must
be said quickly, for to-night I have serious business on hand. Even
now the _Naiad_ is getting up steam, and with the first streak of
daylight we shall trip anchor and away."
He drew a chair up and seated himself astride it, while Burgo perched
himself on a corner of the table.
"You must know, then," resumed Marchment, "that your father and mine
were midshipmen together on board the _Arcturus_, and that it was
young Mr. Brabazon's good fortune to save my dad's life, or my dad's
good fortune to have his life saved by him; put it which way you like.
Anyhow, it was a very heroic action. My dad, who couldn't swim a
stroke, had fallen overboard while carrying out some orders aloft, and
your dad at once plunged after him, although the water was known to be
swarming with sharks, and succeeded in keeping him afloat till a
boat's crew picked them both up. A few months afterwards, when the
ship was paid off, the two middies parted, never to meet again. But my
father, sir, was a man who never forgot an obligation--in that
respect, I am sorry to say, hardly resembling the majority of his
fellows--and I have often heard him express his regret that in the
chances and changes of life he should have so wholly lost sight of his
preserver."
"My father, Mr. Marchment, died while still quite a young man."
Marchment bowed gravely. "In that case one can understand how it was
they never met again. But even when on his deathbed my father did not
forget what he owed to Lieutenant Brabazon (as he had become when he
last heard of him), and he laid it on me as a sacred charge that,
should I ever find myself face to face with him, or any of his kin,
and should it be in my power to do him, or them, a service of any
kind, no matter at what cost to myself, I should not fail to do it.
His words have lived in my memory, and to-day, by rare good luck, I
have been enabled to repay to the son some small portion of the debt
originally owing to the father."
He paused for a moment while he looked at his watch.
"And now, Mr. Brabazon, I have said my say. The door is open, and you
are a free man. But before we part, tell me frankly whether there is
anything more I can do for you. If there is, you may command me to
the full extent of my ability. The circumstances under which I find
you here are exceptional, to say the least"--this with a frank
smile--"consequently, without the slightest hankering to pry into
matters which do not concern me, I may perhaps be allowed to say _Me
voici à votre service, cher monsieur!_"
Few people could have helped being touched by an offer so frankly and
spontaneously tendered, and Burgo was not one of those few.
"Mr. Marchment, for what you have already done for me I thank you from
the bottom of my heart," he said in a tone which carried conviction
with it. "But whether you can help me further is another matter, and
one which it will rest with yourself to determine when you have been
told to what circumstances I owe my enforced detention in this place.
I don't forget that your time is precious, and three or four minutes
will suffice for what I have to say."
"My best attention is yours, Mr. Brabazon."
"Again, thanks. In the first place, then, you must know that Sir
Everard Clinton, the owner of this tower and of the house known as
Garion Keep, which stands some threescore yards away from it, and
between which and it there is an underground communication, is my
uncle. He came from London to the Keep several weeks ago--he and his
wife, the latter being an Italian by birth and a woman half his own
age. Unknown to either, I followed them, somewhat later, and took up
my quarters in the village. I had very cogent reasons for believing
that my uncle was being slowly done to death, and my object was to
rescue him from the hands of those in whose power he was. Only by
stratagem could this be effected, because the evidence in my
possession was not of a kind which admitted of my invoking the aid of
the law. But before I could do anything my presence in the village was
discovered, and one night I was murderously set upon, struck down, and
brought here in a state of unconsciousness. Here I have been ever
since, and no doubt the intention was to keep me under lock and key
till the last act of the tragedy should have been consummated. But a
certain person came to my help, who supplied me with a couple of files
and a length of rope to enable me to effect my escape by way of the
window; while, by means of a stratagem, Lady Clinton was temporarily
got rid of. My hope was that to-morrow night would see me at liberty,
when I should at once make my way to my uncle, explain to him for what
purpose I was there, and induce him to leave the Keep with me before
his wife's return. That once accomplished, I felt sure we should be
able to set Lady Clinton at defiance, and--and in short, my dear old
uncle would have been rescued from the jaws of death."
"And you had planned to carry this out in the course of to-morrow
night?"
"I had."
"Well, and now that you find yourself at liberty twenty-four hours
before you expected----?"
"I shall do--or attempt to do--to-night what I should otherwise have
been obliged to defer till to-morrow night."
"Can I assist you in any way to carry out your scheme?--although, as I
have already remarked, the time at my command is limited."
"If you can let me have a couple of your fellows to help me while I
get my uncle out of the house, I shall be grateful. There is a
truculent fellow there, Lady Clinton's brother, who will be pretty
sure to give some trouble, and he has a couple of ferocious brutes of
dogs. Then there is Vallance, my uncle's valet, who----"
"My dear Brabazon, not another word. I will go with you myself and
take four of my men, all well armed. _Allons_. We have no time to
lose." He stepped to the door, and was in the act of putting a whistle
to his lips when an exclamation on Burgo's part arrested him.
"Good heavens!" cried the latter as he smote his forehead with his
open palm; "what can I have been thinking of? My uncle is an all but
helpless invalid. Even when I shall have succeeded in getting him out
of the house, what then? He is unable to walk more than a dozen yards,
and at this hour of the morning, and in this lonely corner of the
world there will be no possibility of obtaining a conveyance of any
kind. Had it been to-morrow night I should have had my arrangements
made beforehand."
His intention had been to let himself down from the window of the
tower as soon as his supper had been brought him, to make his way to
Crag End, enlist the services of Tyson, and through him obtain the
loan of a vehicle of some kind; hurry back to the Keep, and, a little
later, drive away in triumph with his uncle, with, perchance (oh,
blissful possibility!), Dacia Roylance to make up a happy trio. But
to-night, without any vehicle to which to transfer the sick man, with
Dacia unadvised of what had happened within the last couple of hours,
and with the Keep shut up back and front, and all its inmates abed, it
was a wholly different matter. Burgo was utterly nonplussed.
"Then I seem to have done you an ill turn rather than a good one,"
said Mr. Marchment, but still quite pleasantly. "Is there no way in
which I can remedy it? You can't very well stay here till to-morrow
night, because my rascals have broken open the door, and been guilty
of some further trifling damage downstairs, which cannot fail to be
discovered in the course of the next few hours."
"No, most certainly I will stay here no longer than I can help,"
answered Burgo. "Instead of waiting till to-morrow night before
attempting to see my uncle--when some one would have been prepared to
admit me to the house unknown to the rest of the inmates--I will make
a bold dash about breakfast-time to-morrow or rather, to-day, for we
are now in the small hours--and try whether I can't effect my purpose
by a coup de main."
Somehow, he was unable to divest himself of an uncomfortable notion
that Lady Clinton might return unexpectedly at any moment, and he was
determined, now the opportunity had come to him, to lose no time
before making his grand attempt.
Marchment took a turn across the floor and back.
Then taking Burgo by the lapel of his coat, and looking him straight
between the eyes, he said: "I suppose that neither you nor your uncle
would object to a short voyage in my yacht if you and I together could
succeed in getting Sir Everard clear away?"
The question almost took Burgo's breath. He stared, but for the moment
words refused to come.
"I can read in your face that I have found a way out of the
difficulty," laughed Marchment. "And now every minute is precious."
This time he blew his whistle, but by no means shrilly. It was
responded to so promptly that Burgo could only conclude the man had
been in waiting at the foot of the stairs.
"Take this portmanteau and have it put into the boat," said Marchment.
Then turning to Burgo: "One last word, my dear Brabazon," he went on,
with a sudden added gravity of tone and manner. "You will probably
have gathered from what I have let fall already that my errand here is
of a somewhat peculiar kind; indeed, I may add that it is of a very
serious kind, and not without a spice of danger. But when I have told
you that, I have told you as much as it is good for you to know, and
as much as I am at liberty to reveal. Anything out of the ordinary
which may come under your notice while you and I are together, I must
ask you to see, as the children say, with your eyes shut, and to
forget as quickly as possible. In acting as I have decided to do, I
feel assured that I am running no risk whatever, because I am trusting
myself into the hands of a man of honour, and not myself alone, but
interests which are dearer to me than life. And now that we understand
each other, no more need be said."
Burgo held out his hand, which the other gripped.
"My dear Marchment, you have my word of honour that whatever I may
chance to see or hear while with you will be as sacred as if it were
confided to the dead."
"I feel sure of it. Let us go."
As Burgo glanced for the last time round the room which had been his
prison for so many days and nights, a sigh sprang involuntarily to his
lips. He felt that for long to come he should revisit it in his
dreams. For him it would ever be haunted with memories--some of them
unspeakably precious, others very much the reverse.